Threat posed to stability of Punjab due to drug smuggling in the backdrop of recent drug haul of more than 500 kg of heroin on Atari border, rain havoc in Mumbai, indecent advertisements, crime against women and installation of a statue of Bharat Ratna recipient Bhupen Hazarika were some of the issues raised in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.
Raising the issue of drug menace in Punjab, Pratap Singh Bajwa(Congress)termed it as narco-terrorism and sought strict action against some officers of para-military forces and the local police acting in connivance with the drug mafia. He also said a high-level probe was ordered last year into drug smuggling but it was yet to be made public and urged the Enforcement Directorate to seek the report.
Bajwa termed the officers allegedly involved in the drug racket as "black sheep".
He also said the 532-kg seizure of heroin three days back was one of the highest in the past few years and called for immediate steps to check drug and arms smuggling. He cautioned that the state had witnessed 15 years of terrorism wherein thousands of people were killed. The Congress leader suggested the Government could take help of countries like the United States and Israel who have experience in fighting drug cartel.
For his part, responding to concerns raised by Samajwadi Party (SP) member Ram Gopal Yadav, Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar said "more effective steps" are needed to deal with obscenity and vulgarity in advertisements in the media. He said as many as 6,700 complaints have been dealt with and agreed with Yadav that the issue was important. Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu also said the issue is serious.
Drawing the attention of the house to indecent advertisements, Yadav demanded regulation on such promotions to protect culture from bad influences. The SP said there was a rise in obscenity and vulgarity in advertisements shown in electronic as well as print media, including magazines.
He said it was even difficult to watch news shows on television along with the family because of such advertisements shown during breaks.
The senior SP member said the country was moving towards a "moral crisis" and the spread of nudity and alcoholism was on the rise. According to him, vulgarity was responsible for the increasing crime against women. Earlier, his party colleague, Jaya Bachchan also raised the issue of rising crime against women and gender inequality.
Mumbai floods due to monsoon was raised by Majeed Memon(NCP), who said it was "shameful" that such serious problem occurred every year adding havoc took place due to negligence of civic officials. Even though Mumbai's municipal corporation is the richest civic body in the country with a budget of Rs 30,000 crores but no steps are taken to find permanent solution, he said.
Memon also expressed concern over the death of 27 people on account of accidents due to wall collapse and pot holes dotted roads. He also said there are reports that even mega Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan could not leave his house due to the floods.
Birendra Prasad Baishya( AGP)demanded that late Bhupen Hazarika's statue should be installed in Parliament complex. Shwait Malik (BJP) expressed concern over burning of crop residues in some states, including Punjab and Haryana, leading to spread of diseases besides causing air pollution.
In his mention, Ripun Bora (Congress) asked the Government to stop privatisation of 64 oilfields managed by ONGC and Oil India. Bids have been invited for the oilfields.